


Make Me Happy Christmas Ficlets

by iaminarage



Series: Make Me Happy 'verse [8]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alex Donahue, Andrew Ivanov, Depression TW on one chapter, Do not read unless you have read all of Make Me Happy, F/F, Frankie Newman, Gen, Kyle Rosen, Lexie Hiyashi, M/M, Make Me Happy Backstory Ficlets, Tad Pennington, Zeke Michelakos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 03:39:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3104171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iaminarage/pseuds/iaminarage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Over Christmas and New Years 2014-2015 I posted 8 Make Me Happy ficlets on tumblr while I was out of the country. Each chapter is a different ficlet and they are related only because they are all in the Make Me Happy 'Verse. These ficlets range from long before Make Me Happy, to during Make Me Happy, to years after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Now That You Are Here

**Author's Note:**

> These are Make Me Happy Backstory ficlets. Most of them will spoil details from Make Me Happy, so don't read them unless you've finished Make Me Happy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trent loses his boyfriend to the library for a while and has to go get him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song title is from [Not Afraid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dZxfMMUZww), written by Michael Arden. It’s one of the songs I considered for Alex in Chapter 29 of Make Me Happy (one of the fully five songs that was written in to that chapter at one point, but if you listen to this one, you’ll get the problem).

**December 10 th, 2016**

Trent was sitting in the living room working on a practice exam for Differential Equations when his phone rang with Alex’s ringtone, I Won’t Say (I’m In Love) from Hercules.

“Hey baby, what’s up?” Trent said, picking up the phone.

“Baby?” A vaguely familiar voice said on the other end of the line. It was someone Trent knew, but he couldn’t tell who it was. “I didn’t know we were that close.”

Trent pulled the phone away from his ear and checked the screen. Sure enough, it showed Alex’s name and the picture that Trent had taken of him asleep in the passenger seat of the car on the way to Ohio over the summer.

"So who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?” Trent asked, laughing.

“It’s Carlos.” That made sense, Carlos was one of Alex’s most frequent study buddies, so Trent knew him well enough. “I drew the short straw to, and I quote, ‘Call Alex’s jailbait boyfriend and tell him that Alex is down for the count.’”

Trent sighed. “He fell asleep in the computer lab again?” He could picture it. Alex would rest his head on his arms to “think something through” and then he’d be out like a light.

“Good guess. Can you come get him?”

Luckily Alex had walked to campus that morning, so Trent had the car. He didn’t really mind the interruption from differential equations anyways. He could afford to be done for the night, and if he was lucky, he’d be able to get Alex to go to bed.

Finals week was easily the most difficult time of the year for Alex. No matter what part of the semester it was, he was always working, but during finals, he seemed to think he could study twenty hours a day.

“I’ll be over in like ten minutes. See if you can bag up his stuff?” Trent said.

“Will do,” Carlos replied.

Trent didn’t even bother to get dressed. He wasn’t going to be gone for more than half an hour, and he didn’t care if Alex’s classmates saw him in his pajamas, so he just grabbed a coat and the keys to Alex’s car and headed out the door.

When he got to the computer lab, he found exactly the scene he’d been expecting. Alex’s classmates had their work spread out all over several tables and Alex was in the middle of it, dead to the world.

Trent said hello to the rest of them as he climbed over backpacks and coats. “Hey sweetie, it’s time to wake up,” he said, crouching down next to Alex and shaking his shoulder gently. Alex didn’t respond immediately, which wasn’t a surprise. Carlos had been right when he’d said Alex was down for the count. Alex was so obviously exhausted that Trent hated to wake him. Trent had barely seen him over the last couple of days, but now he could see that Alex looked pale and there were dark circles under his eyes.

After another few seconds where Alex showed no signs of moving, Trent stood up and pressed a kiss to the side of Alex’s head. He ran his fingers through Alex’s hair gently as he said, “Rise and shine before you develop permanent back problems from sleeping like this.”

Alex finally stirred and blinked at him sleepily. “Trent! I missed you!” he said, looking pleased but a little confused.

“Well, you don’t have to miss me anymore,” Trent replied, picking up Alex’s bag. “We’re going home.”

“I can’t. I have to study,” Alex said with a sigh as he sat up.

Carlos threw Alex’s Michigan sweatshirt across the room at his face. “Go home, Donahue. Don’t make me have called your barely legal boyfriend for nothing.”

“He’s twenty-one,” Alex replied grumpily, pulling the hoodie on over his head and standing up. When he realized that all of his stuff was packed up, he rolled his eyes and grabbed his backpack. “Goodnight everyone,” he said, taking Trent’s hand and pulling him back outside.

When they got back to their apartment, Alex stopped just inside the door and looked around. Their living room was dark, lit only by the flickering of the Christmas tree, but Trent could still see Alex grinning. “You decorated?” he asked, turning to Trent.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Trent replied. He’d gotten tired of studying around five o’clock and, since there’d been no sign that Alex might come home, he’d pulled the decorations out of the hall closet and spent several hours setting everything up. Neither he nor Alex were very big on decorating, but Trent had been in the mood for something festive.

“Thank you so much.” Alex turned and wrapped his arms around Trent’s neck.

Trent hugged him back tightly for a moment and then whispered “Look up” in his ear.

Alex laughed when he saw the mistletoe hanging in the doorway and leaned in for a kiss that was a lot less sleepy than Trent had been expecting. After a minute, he pulled the zipper on Trent’s hoodie and pushed it off his shoulders.

“I’m supposed to be putting you to bed, you know,” Trent said, but he pulled Alex back in and kissed him again.

“Going to bed was exactly my plan,” Alex replied. Then he grabbed Trent’s hand and started to lead him out of the living room. Just as they stepped into the hallway, Alex stopped and looked back at the tree. “Merry almost Christmas,” he said, squeezing Trent’s hand.

“Merry almost Christmas,” Trent agreed, before letting himself be lead back to the bedroom.


	2. Found You Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian and Tad get ready to go out drinking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title comes from “Become” by the Goo Goo Dolls.

**December 21 st, 2016**

Sebastian leaned on the door frame of his room and shamelessly admired his boyfriend. Tad was fixing his hair in the mirror, so Sebastian knew Tad could see him there, but that was really his point.

“Stop staring at me and put your shoes on, idiot,” Tad said, shooting Sebastian a fond smile.

Sebastian couldn’t help but grin back. He and Tad had been together for a year and a half, and Tad’s smiles still set his heart racing. “Make me,” Sebastian said, crossing the dorm room and resting his hands on Tad’s waist.

“If I have to make you, we’ll never get out of here,” Tad said, his voice low and a little rough. Then he turned so that he could wrap an arm around Sebastian’s neck.

Sebastian wasn’t sure he’d mind never getting out of there. It was the last night before everyone left for winter break, and Tad’s lacrosse friends were having a massive party. Sebastian knew that he should want to go celebrate surviving another semester with them, but he really just wanted to be with Tad. Sebastian was flying back to Ohio tomorrow and it would be three weeks before they saw each other again. He didn’t really want to spend their last night together for weeks with everyone they knew, but Tad wanted to go, so that’s what he’d do.

His teenage self probably would have been horrified to find out that love had turned him into such a sap, but Sebastian didn’t mind. He knew how lucky he was that Tad had been so patient with him as he’d tried to figure out what kind of man he was going to be.

"You look fucking hot tonight," Sebastian replied, casting a glance down at Tad’s tight, dark jeans and maroon Henley. "Maybe I don’t want anyone else to see you."

Tad threw his head back laughing, which hadn’t quite been the reaction Sebastian was going for. “You’re such a romantic.”

“Who said I was trying to be romantic?” Sebastian asked, and then he leaned in for a kiss.

Tad kissed him back for a few moments, but then he pulled away and rested his forehead against Sebastian’s. “We can’t start this if we’re going to meet the guys,” he said, sounding a little breathless.

“Does that mean you want me to go put my shoes on?” Sebastian asked.

“I guess you probably should,” Tad said with a sigh and stepped back from Sebastian.

Something about the wistful expression on Tad’s face sounded the alarms in Sebastian’s head. Tad was notoriously bad at speaking up for himself, even with Sebastian. He was too prone to playing the outgoing, affable athlete and going along with whatever he thought everyone else wanted.

Sebastian reached out and grabbed Tad’s hand to stop him from getting very far away. “Do you actually want to go out tonight?”

Tad shrugged, which was a pretty dead giveaway for him. “Everyone’s going to be there.”

"Not what I asked, babe."

"Bas…" Tad said, sounding a little helpless.

Sebastian smiled at the nickname. Tad was the only person who’d ever used it, and he liked having a name that belonged to the two of them. “Tell me what’s going on.”

"I don’t want to abandon our friends or make you stay home," Tad said.

"But?" Sebastian prodded.

Tad bit his lip. “But I’m exhausted and I don’t really care about seeing anyone but you.”

Sebastian exhaled loudly. “We’re ridiculous, you know.”

"Hardly a surprise," Tad replied, rolling his eyes. "Why this time?"

"I was only going out tonight because I thought you wanted to."

"Seriously?" Tad asked. When Sebastian nodded, he said, "Thank fuck." Then he pulled Sebastian in and kissed him hard.

Sebastian barely had time to register what was happening before Tad started pushing him towards the bed. When the backs of Sebastian’s knees hit the bed, he let go of Tad and flopped backwards. “So I guess this means we’re staying in?” He asked with a smug grin.

"Good guess," Tad said, climbing onto the bed to straddle Sebastian.

Sebastian interrupted Tad as he started to pull his shirt off. “Maybe we should shut the door first?”

Tad groaned and hopped back off the bed. “Are you saying you don’t want to give your roommates a free show?” He asked as he walked over to the door.

Sebastian sat up a bit, leaning on his elbows so that he could watch Tad shut the door firmly and then take his shirt off on his way back to the bed. “Didn’t I tell you I was keeping you to myself?” He asked, as Tad hopped up next to him.

“You always were the selfish only child type,” Tad said, and then he leaned down and kissed Sebastian again, which, for once, left Sebastian with no desire to argue whatsoever.


	3. And Yet So Far

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten minutes later, Sebastian and Alex still hadn’t come back, so Kurt went looking for them. He found them still sitting where he left them. Alex had his arm wrapped around Sebastian and Sebastian was resting his head on Alex’s shoulder. There was a vulnerability to Sebastian that took Kurt’s breath away. Kurt had seen Sebastian upset, exhausted, happy, excited, angry, horny, and even asleep, but he’d never seen Sebastian look so unguarded. Kurt could tell that they were having a serious conversation, so he slipped back into the living room without interrupting them. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what on earth they’d been talking about.
> 
> Or: The answer to what Sebastian and Alex were talking about in the kitchen. (A missing moment from chapter 17 of Make Me Happy.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for references to depression.
> 
> kyelenia asked me how Sebastian told Alex about his feelings for Kurt, and I’m sure you can tell I’ve known the answer to that one for a long time.
> 
> The title comes from “My Eyes Adored You” which was actually one of Kurt’s songs in MMH.

**October 4 th, 2019**

“Screw you! I am not a compulsive liar,” Sebastian said, glaring at Alex and crossing his arms.

Kurt rolled his eyes and picked up the drinks. “Bye guys.”

“I keep telling you it’s never going to happen, Sebastian,” Alex said with a laugh. “And what about that time you told me that you absolutely hadn’t fallen asleep drunk on the lacrosse practice field?”

Okay, that had been a lie. During the fall of Sebastian’s senior year, he and Tad had celebrated being back at school just a little too hard and then decided that three o’clock in the morning was a great time to practice shooting, so they’d snuck onto one of the practice fields. When they’d remembered they didn’t have their sticks, Tad had felt that a nap was a better idea anyways. He hadn’t wanted to admit any of that to Alex and Trent, because he’d known they’d never stop bringing it up. Since that had been three years ago, he’d obviously been right. “Compulsive means more than once!”

"What about the time you and Tad were an hour late getting to New Haven and you said you’d gotten caught in traffic but actually you’d just stopped to exchange blow jobs in the car?" Alex asked.

"We did get caught in traffic!" Sebastian exclaimed. "Otherwise we’d have only been half an hour late. Besides, don’t pretend you’ve never gotten a blow job in the car."

Alex blinked at him. “Well, if you’re applying a liberal definition of the term ‘blow job’…”

It took Sebastian a second to process what he’d said, and then he and Alex both looked at each other and started giggling. Sebastian finally has to grab the drink Kurt had left him and take a sip to make himself stop laughing. When Alex stole the drink from him, Sebastian didn’t even bother to protest.

"How are you really?" Alex asked, once they were both calm again.

Sebastian looked at Alex for a moment, trying to decide how much of the truth to tell. Alex had always been a good person to talk to, and Sebastian was getting tired of keeping so many secrets to himself. If he told Alex now, maybe he wouldn’t feel so alone.

"I’m in love with him, Alex."

Alex reached over to lay his hand on Sebastian’s back, and Sebastian leaned into him, resting his head on Alex’s shoulder. “I know you are, sweetie,” Alex said. “But I wish you’d tell him.”

Sebastian shook his head. “I can’t… I just don’t think there’s enough of me for that right now.”

"I love you," Alex said, and squeezed Sebastian a little tighter.

That was the other reason why it was easier to tell Alex these kinds of things. Alex was probably the only one of Sebastian’s friends who would understand what meant by that. These days, Sebastian was just barely managing to drag himself out of bed in the morning. He couldn’t handle anything else.

"Love you, too," Sebastian replied.


	4. Beta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Santana always gets what she wants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title comes from the fact that this fic is unabashedly meta as fuck and I enjoy the hell out of it.

**February 20 th, 2020**

“What are you doing?” Lexie exclaimed as Santana pulled her laptop away from her and set it down on the coffee table.

Rather than answer the question, Santana just climbed into her lap. “Hey gorgeous,” she said, wrapping her arms around Lexie’s neck.

From most people, a move like this would have been exactly what it appeared to be: a come on. But Lexie knew Santana well enough to know when she was being played. Still, she tilted her head up and let Santana kiss her, slow and deep. Lexie ran her hand up Santana’s bare thigh and realized that Santana was wearing just a tank top and her shortest pair of gym shorts. Since Santana definitely hadn’t been working out today, the outfit was clearly intended to help her convince Lexie to do what she wanted.

Of course, Lexie would have been lying if she said that it wasn’t working. It was dangerous to let someone as calculating—and hot—as Santana find out your weaknesses.

"Okay, what do you want?" Lexie asked when Santana pulled the neck of her t-shirt out of the way to press kisses along her collarbone. Lexie knew her voice sounded breathless and shaky, but at least she’s managed to call Santana out.

"Can’t I just want to make out with my girlfriend?" Santana asked, pretending to be upset by the implication.

"You can," Lexie said. "But you don’t."

Santana glared at Lexie and crossed her arms. “Fine. But it would have been more fun my way.”

"We can do it your way later," Lexie said, wrapping her arms around Santana’s waist. "When you don’t have ulterior motives."

Santana shook her head one more time and then switched gears, giving Lexie a winning smile. “Babe, would you mind reading something over for me?”

“Oh no,” Lexie said. She really should have known that Santana’s request would have something to do with her fanfic. Santana had been using Lexie for her editing skills since long before they were a couple, and now Lexie was a captive audience. “Please tell me it’s Buffy and Faith?”

“Not quite,” Santana said, twirling a piece of Lexie’s hair between her fingers.

“Katniss and Joanna?” Lexie said hopefully. Santana shook her head again, and Lexie sighed. Santana was actually a good writer. She had a lot of character insight and was at her best when she was writing difficult, complex women. Santana’s current obsession was something else, though.

“Sorry, Lex. It’s still Martian High.

In response, Lexie pushed Santana off her lap and onto the couch next to her. “Oh come on, Santana! I don’t want to read any more porn about Blaine Anderson.” For some inexplicably Santana reason, she’d decided that writing Martian High slash fiction about Blaine’s character was the funniest thing ever. Lexie had spent more than a year trying to figure out how exactly writing fanfic about Blaine’s character counted as joke when no one but Lexie knew that she was doing it, but she’d finally given up. With Santana, sometimes you had to just not question things.

“I’m not writing porn about _Blaine Anderson_ ,” Santana said. “Like I want anything to do with people who are dumb enough to think that rebound boy is a publicity stunt. If you’re going to date someone for publicity, you don’t date a nerd who’s terrified of crowds.”

Somehow Maritan High, and Blaine especially, had developed a special breed of crazy fan. Lexie had been writing fan fiction long before it ever occurred to her to write scripts, and she’s never been a part of a fandom where the conspiracy theorists were so prevalent. Unfortunately, way too much of it was directed at Zeke because the fans wanted Blaine to date the actor who played the show’s antagonist. It was especially ridiculous because Blaine and Zeke had been together for five years when Martian High premiered, and Zeke had never been a secret. He was all over Blaine’s Instagram and there were tons of YouTube videos of Blaine serenading Zeke from their years at USC. Lexie had a hard time believing anyone could be so divorced from reality, but she mostly tried to stay away from the whole thing.

“And yet, you still want me to read Martian High fanfic,” Lexie pointed out.

“I’ll make it worth your while,” Santana offered.

Lexie grabbed her laptop so that she could open the file Santana had sent her. “You’d better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always the Martian High fandom is super meta. I did it with love?


	5. Bring It Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frankie goes to see Andrew Ivanov’s solo show with her tumblr friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title comes from “Sugar Daddy” from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
> 
> As a reminder, Dan is fuckyeahandrewivanov and Angie is aboard-the-neverland.

**November 15th, 2020**

“I’m going to die. I’m going to die. I’m going to die,” Dan muttered, seemingly to himself.

Frankie rolled her eyes and elbowed him. “You’re not going to die, Dan. You’ve seen Andrew perform on multiple occasions, and it has never killed you.”

“You know it’s not the same,” Dan said, shaking his head. “Seeing him in a show was one thing, but this is a _solo show_. More than an hour of Andrew Ivanov! Just imagine how you’ll feel when it’s Kurt.”

Kurt Hummel doing a solo show was definitely on Frankie’s list of the top ten things she wanted to see in her lifetime, but she liked to believe that she’d be able to at least pretend to keep her cool better than Dan. But then she also hadn’t named her tumblr “fuckyeahkurthummel,” so perhaps the difference should have been obvious.

“Keep it together. I could totally end up working with these people some day. I really don’t want them to remember me as ‘that girl whose friend fainted at 54 Below.’”

“Well, at least you have your priorities in order,” Dan said, slinging his arm around her with a grin.

They ended up sitting in one of the long tables right by the stage, which made Frankie worry for Dan’s health. She stopped thinking about Dan entirely when Angie rushed back from the bathroom looking like she was going to jump out of her skin. “I just saw Kurt Hummel and Mitchell Forest talking over by the bar!”

“Kurt’s here?” Frankie said, looking around.

At the same time, Dan said, “Mitch is here? I wonder if he’s singing with Andrew!”

Frankie couldn’t help but wonder the same thing. Andrew was totally one of her favorite actors, so she hadn’t come to see his show because she hoped that Kurt would sing with him, but she had thought he might. It would make an awesome night even better.

Both Frankie and Dan ended up getting their duets. After a few solo songs, Mitch joined Andrew for “[Written in the Stars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3DgXIs5zQ4),” which had everyone in the bar tearing up. Not that long afterwards, Andrew had called his “leading man” up to the stage and, after Kurt had teased him about it, the two of them gave a hilarious performance of “[Suddenly Seymour](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b66p8dLLwf8)”.

Frankie’s fears about the table location were proven completely right when the last song of the set turned out to be “[Sugar Daddy](http://youtu.be/uIaFn5lsLd8?t=10s)”. Frankie was excited as soon as she heard the opening notes; It was a great song for someone with Andrew’s incredible energy. She was pretty sure that the song completely broke Dan’s brain as soon Andrew started singing, but it only got worse when he hopped off the stage and started running around the audience.

In the middle of the song, Andrew hopped up on their table and started dancing. Frankie reached over and grabbed Dan’s arm. She wasn’t sure how exactly that would stop Dan from dying or passing out or whatever, but it felt like the right move. Thankfully when the song ended, Dan was still conscious.

After the show, Frankie, Angie, and Dan started to make their way towards the bathrooms when Frankie heard a voice call her name. She found herself suddenly face to face with a smiling Kurt Hummel and a tall, thin man that seemed slightly familiar.

"Hi Kurt!" She said, giving him a hug. "You make a fantastic Audrey."

"Thanks!" He replied. "Who are your friends?"

Frankie clapped a hand to her forehead. “Sorry, I forgot,” She said. “This is Angie and Dan.”

The three of them shook hands, and then Kurt introduced the man standing next him. “Frankie, this is Sebastian.”

"So you’re the famous Frankie," Sebastian said, which made Frankie blush and Kurt roll his eyes.

"This is why I don’t let you talk to strangers," Kurt said to Sebastian. Then he turned to Frankie and asked, "How’s school?"

They chatted for a few minutes before Kyle Rosen shouted to Kurt from across the room and he left them. The three of them headed over to join the crowd surrounding Andrew and managed to get a quick picture with him before they left 54 Below.

As soon as they were a few blocks away from the theatre, Angie turned to Dan and Frankie and said, “Did we just meet Kurt Hummel’s _boyfriend_?”

"I think we did!" Frankie replied. While they were waiting to meet Andrew, Frankie had realized why Sebastian had been familiar. He was all over Kurt’s Instagram. There had never been any explanation, but Frankie was sure that was why. She looked over at Angie and Dan and all three of them started giggling.

"Good for Kurt!" Dan said. "That guy was hot!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This totally comes from the fact that I went to see Hedwig on Broadway months ago and texted Kat afterwards to be like "WHY DIDN'T I HAVE ANDREW SING HEDWIG AT ALL?"


	6. Make My Wish Come True

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andrew and Adam spend Christmas morning together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dievampiredie prompted “Andrew and Adam: Christmas in New York.” And they are TECHNICALLY in New York?

**December 25th, 2022**

Adam woke up at nine o’clock in the morning on Christmas Day to find Andrew staring at him, looking more anxious than excited. “Fucking hell, Andrew. Why the fuck are you staring at me?” Adam asked, struggling to sit up and glare at his boyfriend.

“Has anyone ever told you that you swear more when you’ve been woken up early?” Andrew asked.

Adam watched Andrew slowly massage his right hand for a few seconds, which Adam had learned was a sure sign of nerves from him. “What’s going on, sweetie?” He asked, more gently this time.

“Nothing!” Andrew said, dropping his hands and looking startled, as if he’d expected not to be caught. “We have presents!” Then Andrew hopped off the bed and practically ran into the living room.

“We would still have presents at noon!” Adam shouted after him, and flopped back onto the bed.

He only laid there for another minute. Even with Andrew’s mysterious attack of nerves, Christmas morning was too exciting for him to go back to sleep.

When he wandered out to the kitchen, he found Andrew pouring coffee and singing “[All I Want For Christmas Is You”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXQViqx6GMY) quietly.

Adam took a minute just to watch him. Sometimes he still had moments where he could hardly believe that he’d really gotten this lucky. He thought back to when they met each other, and it seemed impossible that the wide-eyed high school senior he’d shown around the school had somehow become the most important person in the world to him.

Andrew noticed Adam watching and turned to serenade him. Adam couldn’t help but laugh, and after a few seconds he grabbed Andrew and started dancing with him as the two of them sang together.

By the time the song was finished, their coffee was ready, so they moved to the living room to sit in front of the tree. Andrew bounced a little bit in excitement when they settled in front of the presents. It didn’t seem to matter that it was just the two of them; Andrew loved Christmas no matter how large or small it was.

It took them a while to get through all of the presents, joking and trying things on and stopping to take pictures to send to anyone who’d mailed them gifts. Once Andrew opened the new comforter Adam’s mother had got them, Adam surveyed the tree and said, “Looks like that’s it.”

“Not quite,” Andrew replied, crawling under the tree and digging under the tree skirt a bit before grabbing something and sitting back on his knees in front of Adam. “Hold out your hand.”

When he as he was told, Andrew set a small wrapped box in his hand. Adam gasped when he looked at the present and realized exactly what size it was. When he glanced back up, Andrew was looking at him and biting his lip.

Adam’s heart was racing and all he wanted to do was get the box open and make sure it was what he thought it was, but he forced himself to go slowly out of respect for the moment. When he finally had the paper off, he was holding a ring box, which he immediately opened. Inside was a thick silver band with an etched pattern that looked like a braid.

For a moment, all Adam could do was stare at the ring. There was absolutely no mistaking what it was, and he could hardly believe it was real.

Andrew interrupted Adam’s contemplation by stealing the ring box back from him and saying, “I think I’ve been sure that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you since the first time you kissed me.” His voice was wavering a bit as he spoke, but he was grinning. “You changed my life that day, and I couldn’t be happier that you did. So if you happen to have forever open on your schedule, I was hoping we could spend it together.”

Adam laughed, although it sounded a bit choked off since he was starting to cry. Andrew reached over and took his hand as he said, “Will you marry me?”

“Yes, I will,” Adam replied, and then he leaned in for a kiss. Andrew pulled him close, and Adam could feel that he was shaking a little.

After a minute, Andrew pulled back and said, “I think you’re supposed to put this on.” Then he tugged the ring out of the box and held onto Adam’s left hand so that he could slip it onto his ring finger. It was a perfect fit, which made Adam wonder if Andrew had measured his finger while he was asleep or something.

Adam took a second to admire the way the ring looked, and then he reached over and wrapped his arms around Andrew’s waist. Andrew hugged him back and buried his face in Adam’s shoulder. “Did you really think I’d say no?” Adam asked quietly, surprised at how relieved Andrew seemed.

“No,” Andrew said, his voice a bit muffled. “But I kept thinking you would ask, and then you didn’t…”

The truth was that Adam had wanted to propose for more than a year, but he’d held off. Every time he thought about it, he remembered back to that terrible week after he’d asked Andrew to move in with him, and he once again decided that he should let Andrew do it. “I didn’t want to ask you anything you weren’t ready to be asked.”

“Well I’m about eight hundred percent ready at this point!” Andrew exclaimed, sitting up and glaring at him playfully.

Adam snorted and said, “I mean do you want me to ask you now?”

“No, I think we’ve covered the asking part,” Andrew replied rolling his eyes, and then he smiled at Adam mischievously. “So do we have to call your parents now, or can we go have sex?”

Adam looked at the clock and shrugged. “They’ll still be awake when we’re done,” he said, and then stood up so that he could pull Andrew to his feet and back to the bedroom.


	7. Little By Little

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frankie enjoys getting to be the star on opening night at NYADA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kyelenia and others asked for Kurt going to see Frankie in a NYADA show.
> 
> The title is a song title from the Off-Broadway musical Murder Ballad, which is awesome. (You can listen to the song on spotify, I just can't get it on youtube.)

**October 26 th, 2023**

“Fifteen minutes ‘til top of show!” Frankie heard the assistant stage manager, Anna, call as she checked her eyeliner in the mirror one more time.

“Thank you fifteen!” She chorused, along with the rest of the small cast and crew of Murder Ballad. It was just a few minutes before opening night of the first student run production of Frankie’s senior year at NYADA. It wasn’t the first lead role that Frankie had had so far, but she was pretty sure it was the most challenging. Frankie had known she had to play Sara from the moment the show was announced, and she knew how lucky she’d been to get the part, but now she was a little bit terrified that the moment was really here.

“How’s the audience,” She heard one of her costars, Paul, who was playing Tom, ask Anna.

“Amazing!” Anna replied, and then she dropped her voice a bit so that Frankie had to strain to hear her. “And you’ll never guess who’s here.”

Paul snorted. “Some aging NYADA benefactor that we all have to pretend to care about?” Frankie couldn’t help but laugh with him. That was usually who it turned out to be whenever someone supposedly exciting came to opening night at NYADA.

“I don’t know,” Anna said, sounding thoughtful. “Does Kurt Hummel really count as ‘aging’?”

Frankie couldn’t help it; she spun around and said, “Kurt Hummel is _what_?”

“In the audience,” Anna confirmed. “I think he’s with Kyle Rosen and Lexie Hiyashi. Then Anna paused and tilted her head a bit, obviously listening to something happening on her headset. “Shit. Break a leg, guys!” She said as she ran out the door.

“Oh my god,” Frankie said, meeting Paul’s eyes. All she could think was that, after all these years of seeing every one of Kurt’s shows, she was going to be the one on stage this time. And of course it would be this show. “I have to pretend to be sexy in front of Kurt Hummel!”

Paul laughed and reached over to give her a hug. “In those pants? Darling, you _are_ sexy. Own it.”

“You’re gay, Paul!”

“So’s Kurt Hummel,” Paul replied with a wink. “Come on, we have to be hot and self destructive.”

The show was very nearly perfect. It was easily better than any of their rehearsals so far, and Frankie had almost forgotten about the Kurt situation until was changing out of her costume. At that point she started to freak out about what was going to happen. She didn’t even know for sure if Kurt had realized she was in the show. He was a NYADA alum after all, so it was possible he’d just decided to support the drama department since he had time. Maybe he’d be gone, but if he wasn’t, she didn’t know what she was supposed to do. By the time she was dressed, she’d decided that she was just going to find her friends and try not to think about it.

Of course, the first person Frankie saw when she walked out the door was Kurt, deep in conversation with a couple of her professors. She thought about continuing on her mission, but Kurt caught sight of her before she got very far. He must have made his excuses to the people he was talking with, because a moment later he was walking over to her and giving her a hug.

“Frankie, you were amazing!” He exclaimed. “I feel like I should be waiting at the stage door for you.”

“I can’t believe you’re here!” She replied.

"It seemed like a good time to return the favor," Kurt said, and then turned his head to look for someone.

Kurt’s distraction gave Frankie a moment to just gape at him. She was pretty sure that Kurt had just said he’d come to see her, which was such a ridiculous thought that it couldn’t be true. But yet, there he was, beckoning Kyle Rosen and Lexie Hiyashi over.

Kurt introduced her to both of them and she sternly reminded herself to save the heart attack for later.

"You were excellent, Frankie," Kyle said. "I’m really impressed."

"Kyle doesn’t lie about that kind of thing. You really were fantastic," Lexie added.

Frankie knew that she was probably tomato red from blushing, but she managed to keep her cool. “Thank you both so much! I absolutely love your work. I actually did ‘I Told You So’ for my Murder Ballad audition!” She named a song from Kyle and Lexie’s first cult hit.

Kyle grinned at her. “I’d love to hear you sing it someday,”

Before Frankie could answer, Lexie elbowed Kurt and said, “Shit. Incoming.”

Kurt looked up and said, “Oh crap.”

Frankie felt a hand on her shoulder, and heard Carmen Tibideaux say, “Miss Newman. Fantastic job this evening. I’m very proud.”

“Thank you Ms. Tibideaux!’ She said, trying not to sound nervous.

“And Mr. Hummel,” she continued, “What a surprise to have such an illustrious alumnus join us.”

“I’m glad to be here,” Kurt replied in an overly diplomatic voice.

Frankie’s friends were waving at her from across the lobby and she knew she shouldn’t stand there any longer. Kurt must have caught the direction of her glance, because he said, “Actually Frankie, before you go, can we get a picture?”

“Sure!” Frankie said, grinning at him. It was such a perfectly weird role reversal that she couldn’t help but be thrilled he’d thought of it.

Kurt ended up handing his phone off to Carmen so that he, Frankie, Lexie, and Kyle could all be in the picture. As they posed for the picture, Kurt whispered, “If I start now, do you think I can be your official first fan?”


	8. Dreaming Out Loud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blaine and Zeke sneak away from their New Year’s party to talk about what they want next year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dievampiredie prompted “Blaine and Zeke: New Year’s Eve”
> 
> In this case, “Dreaming Out Loud” is a lyric from a Saving Jane song, “Come Down To Me” which is one of the songs that makes me think of the beginning of Blaine and Zeke’s relationship.

**December 31st, 2023**

Their New Year’s party was in full swing when Blaine realized that Zeke had disappeared. It was nearly ten o’clock and the party had started at six, so it wasn’t a surprise that Zeke had needed a break.

By now Blaine was used to Zeke wandering out of parties, no matter who hosted them. Usually if they were the hosts, Blaine would stick around until Zeke came back, but only their closest friends were over tonight, so Blaine didn’t feel bad about going to look for his husband.

Unsurprisingly, Blaine found Zeke in their bedroom. He was sitting on the floor with his back against their bed, a sketch pad on his knees and their large Golden Retriever stretched out across the floor in front of him. “Mind if I join you?” Blaine asked.

The two of them had both learned a lot in the ten years they’d been together. When they first started dating, Blaine had been alarmed when Zeke would disappear from parties and would always go find him to try to get him to come back. Zeke hadn’t known how to explain what he needed, so he’d come back to a lot of parties before he was ready.

Now Blaine knew that if Zeke left the room he was probably okay. Zeke knew that Blaine would always want to check on him just in case something was wrong. Blaine never asked Zeke to come back to the party, and he always asked if it was okay for him to stay or if Zeke needed to be completely alone. And Zeke knew that Blaine wouldn’t leave and hang out with him if he didn’t want to, so he didn’t have to feel guilty that Blaine was with him instead of with their friends.

Zeke shook his head and waved Blaine in. Blaine wandered over to the bed and lay down on it so that he could look and see what Zeke was drawing. He turned out to be working on a sketch of the dog, which explained why Zeke had been staring at her.

“Do you think Scootch would be devastated if you came up here and joined me?” Blaine asked.

“She understands that she has to share, don’t you Scootch?” Zeke put the sketch pad down and reached over to scratch under Scootch’s ear.

Blaine wasn’t so sure. Scootch loved both of them, of course, but Blaine knew that Zeke was her favorite. Luckily Blaine was pretty sure that he was still Zeke’s favorite, although it might have been close.

Zeke stood up and crawled onto the bed, immediately curling up and resting his head on Blaine’s chest. Blaine slipped his hand under Zeke’s sweater and ran his palm up and down Zeke’s back. Zeke relaxed against him, and Blaine thought that he might have been happy just to go to sleep like this, which made him feel old considering that it was two hours before the New Year.

“Everything okay?” Blaine asked.

“I’m good,” Zeke replied. “Just got tired.”

Blaine nodded, and the two of them lay like that for another minute before Blaine said, “So Mr. Anderson…”

Zeke giggled and then pushed himself up on his elbow so that he could lean in for a kiss. “Yes Mr. Anderson?” he said when he pulled back, settling himself next to Blaine this time.

“It’s New Years eve. What do you want next year?” The two of them had been asking each other that question ever since their first New Years together when Zeke had asked Blaine. He hadn’t meant to make a tradition, but they’d both just kept doing it.

Some years they just said silly things, but other years it was more important. With the way Zeke had bitten his lip when Blaine asked, it looked like this was going to be the serious kind.

"I’ve been thinking about it lately," Zeke said, as he ran his fingers along the neck of Blaine’s shawl collar sweater without meeting his eyes.

Blaine watched Zeke’s hands and waited for him to keep going. After another minute, he looked up and said, “I thought it might be time to discuss kids again.”

Blaine’s eyes widened in shock. He’d never have guessed that Zeke would have been the one to bring that up. They’d been discussing the idea for years. Blaine had always pictured himself being a father eventually, and he’d known since they were both teenagers that Zeke wanted the same thing. They’d even bought a four bedroom house on the outskirts of the city because they weren’t planning to move any time soon, but they’d always talked about it in terms of eventually. It sounded like Zeke was thinking about something concrete.

"It might take more than a year," Zeke said with a self conscious shrug. "And we can still wait…"

Blaine leaned in and kissed Zeke softly to reassure him. When he pulled away, he brushed Zeke’s hair out of his eyes. “We have the house,” he said. “We have the money, and we may be busy, but I don’t think we’ll ever stop that. If you’re ready to have kids, I don’t see any reason to wait.”

"I don’t want you to decide because it’s what I want," Zeke replied.

"I’ve been thinking about it, too," Blaine said. They’d babysat Cooper’s son, Marty, overnight for the first time last month and that was when Blaine had become convinced. Working together with his husband to take care of their one year old nephew had felt right. He hadn’t been able to look at Zeke holding Marty without thinking that it was time for them to have one of their own. "I really want to do this."

Zeke grinned at him, that unreasonably happy Zeke smile that Blaine had fallen in love with ten years ago, and said, “Okay, let’s do it.” Then he leaned in to kiss Blaine again.

They only kissed for a moment before Blaine felt Scootch’s nose against his arm. He looked over to see that she was giving them her pleading, neglected puppy look. Zeke laughed and reached over to pet her.

"Aren’t you worried Scootch will feel replaced?" Blaine asked.

Zeke gave him a look that said he was being especially silly. “Scootch is a dog, Blaine. She knows she’s not replaceable.” Then he climbed down off the bed and went over to the mirror straighten up. “We should go back…”

"Before Sam and Brandon get into trouble?" Blaine’s asked. His best friend and Zeke’s best friend had turned out to be a terrifying combination.

The two of them were halfway down the stairs when Zeke grabbed his hand and stopped him. “Wait, what do you want this year?” He asked.

Blaine squeezed his hand and said, “You.”

"Cheater," Zeke said with a grin. He’d vetoed that answer somewhere around year three.

"Fine," Blaine said with a sigh. "I’d like to do a TV show that’s actually good."

Zeke laughed. Martian High had ended after four years, and Blaine had been doing movies since then, but he liked the routine of TV better. “Maybe one with less crazy fans?”

“God I hope so,” Blaine said with a smile as they continued down the stairs.

Blaine rejoined their friends, played host, and tried to act normal and enjoy the party, but the only thing he could think of for the rest of the night was the two of them having kids. He could picture setting the room next to theirs up as a nursery, warming bottles in the middle of the night in their kitchen, and Zeke rocking their baby to sleep in a big rocking chair while Blaine sang lullabies. The more he imagined it, the more right it felt.

When the midnight countdown hit zero, all the couples kissed each other, including Blaine and Zeke and then everyone grabbed glasses of champagne and wandered around toasting the New Year. Before let himself be pulled away, he leaned in to whisper in Zeke’s ear. “To adding new members to the family.”

Zeke grinned and nodded, and the two of them clinked their glasses together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final fic included in the Christmas ficlets that I posted on Tumblr was [Beware of Low Ceilings](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3104123), a Rynique ficlet in my "Takes the Greatest While" 'verse (which is the same 'verse as Make Me Happy but there's no way to stack them). It's been posted in that 'verse since that's where it really belongs.


End file.
